About Ironwood Custom Motorcycles

Redefine – Reimagine – Renew – Reinvent – Reshape

Nice to meet, ”Bold & Minimalistic” at the same time, we are Ironwood! IWC Motorcycles is a Dutch custom garage founded by Arjan van den Boom& Partner in 2012. Together we customize, conceptualize & realize motorcycles to one-of-a-kind vintage machines, piece by piece! Let’s start first with; we are crazy about bikes, pretty much all of them as noticed on first glance but our hearts will skip a beat when seeing properly manufactured cafe racers around the globe.

The actual journey of taking on the build, tear down the bikes to its bare bones and rebuild them from the ground up provides us that all-time high. Our L-O-V-E for custom motorcyclesis no secret so every project we handcraft will have its own specific details and key features to tell its own story. Throughout the process of building, we mostly envision our bikes as mean and fast ”brat style” or ”bobber” rides with a few touches from the industrial universe of the 20th century.

We constantly have new ideas shuffling in our heads and when it comes to finding the perfect tailored solution for each assignment, we will be challenged by conventional concepts blended with innovative defiance.

We achieve to deliver a work of art on every vintage machine, turning scrappy metal into gold! Each bike has it’s own unique design and character, depending on budgets involved.

We like to be different and get the most out of life. Our vision is to apply a mix of creativity. Some vintage, some with a modern twist.

Paint The Town, Ride Ironwood!

Ironwood Custom’s ‘The Interpreter’ BMW R100R Scrambler

Ironwood Custom Motorcycles has built a dozen BMW R customs in the last five years and the client has chosen the right shop. When a client approached Ironwood Customs with very specific requirements, the pressure to deliver was on Arjan van den Boom. His ability to visualize someone else’s wishes are as refined as his motorcycle building skills and he turned a tired 1992 BMW R100R into this beautiful black scrambler brat, usually called’ The Interpreter.

‘Since he enjoyed the surroundings and hospitality of the Ironwood display room in leather sofa comfort, he had built up an idea of what he did and did n’t want; and he was firm in his view! “ We do a lot of tailored solutions but for us, this bike reflects the interpretation of the specific demands from our customer. We tried to read each statement or comment from him and convert it directly onto the design of his BMW,” explains Arjan to pipeburn.com.

The first task was to find a specific donor and it wasn’t long before BMWs were popular in the Netherlands. An old motorcycle collector had just the right bike for sale and the cash was handed over to him. At Ironwood, it was torn down and the team was able to work the way forward with non-negotiable customers ” spoked wheels, big chunky tires, bulky gas tank, mono shock, and a floating seat. ” In order to ensure that the entire team was on the same page, Arjan developed a design and work could begin.

Chassis modifications were initially introduced with the standard subframe thrown aside and the Ironwood signature seat post, which protrudes nicely from the welded backbone. This fits the customer’s floating seat style, but he also dreamed of some swingarm changes. “The one-off rear shock design challenged us to execute it properly as envisioned on paper by the customer in advance of the project,” Arjan tells Pipeburn. While the stock bike uses a mono- shock, the client wanted it to move further in the right frame rail.

Arjan was clear that he didn’t want to make the swingarm a bulky metal mess to fit the design, so instead of guessing something so vital for the performance of the bike, he reached the HyperPro suspension wizards. Together, they developed a nice solution, perfectly welded new mounting points and custom-made for the HyperPro shock fitted for good measurement. With everything glued and excess tabs removed, the frame, swingarm and a bunch of different pieces were sandblasted and sent out for black powder coat dusting.

“the welded headers are to die for and merge under the motor in a hand-built twin exit muffler.”

With the bulk of the motorcycle out of the shop, the engine was opened and treated to a complete rebuild to make sure for trouble-free riding. The Bosch ignition was replaced by the entire electronic and adjustable system of Silent Hektik. While the fuel side is still fed by Bing carbs, they have been revised and re-jetted to the K&N pod filters. But here the amazing exhaust system is stealing the show and that is Marcel’s work from The Custom Factory. The welded headers of full stainless construction are to die for and merge under the motor in a hand- built twin exit muffler.

The assembly started with the new rear suspension bolted up and the hubs hung up front and rear. They are tied to new black rims and wrapped in the Heidenau K60 dual sports tyres, the choice Arjan ‘s. The front suspension keeps the standard externals lowered by the powder – coated triple trees, the internals being changed to match the new rear end setup. Plenty of weight removed the factory Brembo twin disc brakes are more than capable of hauling up the blacked-out beauty.

The previous model tank gets the look spot on and has a Monza filler for good measurement. The deep gloss black paint contrasts perfectly with the matte graphics, the company motto of the customer, painted by Jacco from Royal Kustom Works. The floating seat request is completed by a solo and stitched by Miller Kustom Upholstery. The front headlight has a modern interpretation of the classic style with an LED set- up and the rear indicators feature clever taillights installed into the outer rings.

All the factory wiring was removed and replaced by only the best from Motogadget with an m-unitas the operating brain. A set of Motogadget m.blaze turn signals works with bar end mirrors on the braced bars. While things are kept minimal with an offset motoscope mini that serves as the instrument cluster to recreate a killer build beemer. BMW R builds have become a staple of the custom scene, for good reason, and as long as workshops like Ironwood Customs can translate the dreams their customers into rolling masterpiecesthey will continue to be the moto du jour par excellence!

]]>https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/12/ironwood-customs-the-interpreter-bmw-r100r-scrambler/feed/0Vagabund Moto’s Customized BMW R100R 1993https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/11/vagabund-motos-customized-bmw-r100r-1993-the-smokey-dogs/
https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/11/vagabund-motos-customized-bmw-r100r-1993-the-smokey-dogs/#respondWed, 21 Nov 2018 10:51:00 +0000Background Info of Vagabund Moto : A motorcycle can not stand still, the movement is in its nature. Vagabund Moto is dedicated to reinterpreting this timeless transport method, as it is unique in aesthetics and performance. We don’t reinvent the wheel, but we think about it again. “We‘re not reinventing the …

Background Info of Vagabund Moto :

A motorcycle can not stand still, the movement is in its nature. Vagabund Moto is dedicated to reinterpreting this timeless transport method, as it is unique in aesthetics and performance. We don’t reinvent the wheel, but we think about it again.

“We‘re not reinventing the wheel, but we‘re rethinking it.”

Our projects will never be forced into a form such as a café racer, scrambler, tracker, brat, chopper or bobber. These are only recommendations, ready to be broken. We see the motorcycle as a state of being because it transcends class and status as no other vehicle does. These high octane pieces are handmade in a workshop in northern Graz, Austria. You can find them all over the world. However, you can never fully own them, because a true vagabond belongs to the road forever.

About Vagabund’s V03 BMW R100R 1993

Vagabund Moto an Austrian motorcycle customizers present their impressive new Vagabund’s V03 BMW R100R. The result is a beautiful motorcycle, which is great to look at and great to ride, fusing the concepts of a café racer and a scrambler. Looking like a vintage bike, Vagabund Moto succeeded in creating a beautiful mix of old and new, adding some great futuristic details, modern lights and more to the bike.

What modifications are made and what parts are used?

100% street-legal in Austria

Completely new designed and welded rear frame

Original R100R wheels, knocked down, powder-coated with new stainless spokes

Please tell us a bit about yourself, your history with motorcycles, and your workshop.

Background info about the Workshop:

TOMA is a “Brussels-based” custom workshop. We transform, customize and hand finish motorcycles to create unique and personalized machines.

Our artistic approach strives to extract the best potential of each bike and match the vision of their future owner’s. We aim to create unique, one-of-a-kind machines, with a clean and efficient style.

Customizing goes hand in hand with transforming to us. We do not only modify bikes we give them a new life, a new look.

We always work starting with an older, existing base and then begin adding new parts (tanks, wheels, handlebars, lights). Given the complexity of certain projects, we often create and adapt some of these parts ourselves, especially when they’re metal.

Before we even get going, we spend a lot of time with the future-owners to see where they come from, what their interests are, where and how they grew up, their tastes, what they’ve been doing in life etc. All these elements, along with a ton of aesthetic and artistic research, allow us to create the motorcycle of their dreams.

About the Owner

One and a half year ago, I decided to leave my job as Strategy Manager for a big consulting firm to open TOMA CUSTOMS and fully live from my passion, transforming and customizing motorcycles.

“Mixing mental and manual activities generates a level of freedom and satisfaction that I’d never experienced before.”

Working as a manager at a big consulting company enriched me personally and professionally, while it also made me grow and evolve as a person. Yet, I felt it was time for me to achieve one of my dreams and to fully live my passion: combining my intellectual abilities with creativity and manual work. That’s why I decided to turn my passion into my job.

About the project: BMW K1100(TOMA#1) BY TOMA CUSTOMS

When we start a project we first want to hear about the clients’ wishes and transformation ideas. It is a great opportunity for us to get to know our client and enables us to visualize what his dream bike would look like.

For this project, the approach was completely different.

The story began when our client Olivier came to the workshop to order a custom motorcycle. He had the opportunity to see some of our past projects and had ideas of his dream bike. But when he arrived at the workshop he directly fell in love with TOMA#1, one of our personal bikes, a vintage green BMW k1100, that we started to transform several years ago but did not completely finish yet. He just wanted that one. Olivier liked the fact that this bike was unique and he convinced us to complete a very cool project together.

It was not an easy decision to make, as the bike is special to us. Being the very first one we worked on. But somehow this felt right, like a turning point. Our very first creation would be in good hands.

Regarding the modifications, we decided to keep the original tank and rather align/shorten the rear part of the frame. We cut and welded a shorter frame loop and replaced the original huge saddle by a custom seat base that we then sewed by our workshop. The finish and covering of the saddle is in Alcantara leather. Replacing the handlebar and changing the tires also helped work on the line of the bike.

All electronic components have been replaced by new and more minimalist elements (led indicator lights, led taillights, Daytona speedometer, battery) to make the motorcycle look more modern. List of modification also includes the build of a battery box and the modification of the muffler. In the front, we removed the fairing and replaced it with a more aesthetic headlight and an original yellow side light to give it a nice retro touch. The green color of the bike is inspired by vintage Italian cars.

]]>https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/11/bmw-k1100-toma1-by-toma-customs-the-smokey-dogs/feed/0BMW K1100 PROJECT BY TOMA CUSTOMShttps://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/11/bmw-k1100-project-by-toma-customs-the-smokey-dogs/
https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/11/bmw-k1100-project-by-toma-customs-the-smokey-dogs/#respondTue, 20 Nov 2018 13:01:00 +0000 Background info about the Workshop TOMA is a Brussels-based custom workshop. We transform, customize and hand finish motorcycles to create unique and personalized machines. Our artistic approach strives to extract the best potential of each bike and match the vision of their future owner’s. We aim to create unique, one-of-a-kind machines, with a clean …

Background info about the Workshop

TOMA is a Brussels-based custom workshop. We transform, customize and hand finish motorcycles to create unique and personalized machines.

Our artistic approach strives to extract the best potential of each bike and match the vision of their future owner’s. We aim to create unique, one-of-a-kind machines, with a clean and efficient style.

Our work mainly focuses on the tracker, scrambler, and bratstyle projects.

Customizing goes hand in hand with transforming to us. We do not only modify bikes we give them a new life, a new look.

We always work starting with an older, existing base and then begin adding new parts (tanks, wheels, handlebars, lights). Given the complexity of certain projects, we often create and adapt some of these parts ourselves, especially when they’re metal.

Before we even get going, we spend a lot of time with the future-owners to see where they come from, what their interests are, where and how they grew up, their tastes, what they’ve been doing in life etc. All these elements, along with a ton of aesthetic and artistic research, allow us to create the motorcycle of their dreams.

About the Owner

One and a half year ago, I decided to leave my job as Strategy Manager for a big consulting firm to open TOMA CUSTOMS and fully live from my passion, transforming and customizing motorcycles.

Mixing mental and manual activities generates a level of freedom and satisfaction that I’d never experienced before.

Working as a manager at a big consulting company enriched me personally and professionally, while it also made me grow and evolve as a person. Yet, I felt it was time for me to achieve one of my dreams and to fully live my passion: combining my intellectual abilities with creativity and manual work. That’s why I decided to turn my passion into my job.

About the project: BMW K1100 PROJECT BY TOMA CUSTOMS

When we start a project we first want to hear about the clients’ wishes and transformation ideas. Thus, it is a great opportunity for us to get to know our client and enables us to visualize what his dream bike would look like. In this particular case, as Jean-Michel is also an official BMW dealer, the scope of the project was limited to a BMW donor bike, which are bikes we love to transform at our workshop.

After a few meetings with Jean-Michel, thinking and sharing ideas, we came with a proposition to use the K1100 model as the base for the project. Jean-Michel wanted a bike that is reliable, with a strong personality and with a retro touch. The K1100 was the perfect base for this project.

When the donor bike arrived at the workshop, we first dismantled it and removed any original accessories that were superfluous in order to analyses the general line we wanted to give to the bike.

We decided to keep the original tank and rather align/shorten the rear part of the frame. So, we cut and welded a shorter frame loop and replaced the original huge saddle by a custom seat base that we then sewed by our workshop. The finish and covering of the saddle is in Alcantara leather. Replacing the handlebar and changing the tires also helped work on the line of the bike.

All electronic components have been replaced by new and more minimalist elements (led indicator lights, led taillights, Daytona speedometer, battery) to make the motorcycle look more modern. List of modification also includes the build of a battery box and the modification of the muffler. In the front, we removed the fairing and replaced it with a more aesthetic headlight and an original yellow side light to give it a nice retro touch. The grey color of the bike is inspired by modern BMW M Performance.

]]>https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/11/bmw-k1100-project-by-toma-customs-the-smokey-dogs/feed/0THE JM CUSTOMS BMW R45 CAFE RACERhttps://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/10/the-jm-customs-bmw-r45-cafe-racer-the-smokey-dogs/
https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/10/the-jm-customs-bmw-r45-cafe-racer-the-smokey-dogs/#respondThu, 18 Oct 2018 12:46:00 +0000https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/10/the-jm-customs-bmw-r45-cafe-racer-the-smokey-dogs/This BMW R45 Cafe racer is the work of a Scottish custom motorbike garage JM CUSTOMS, primarily based in Perth, on the side of the country illustrious for whiskey, haggis, and being therefore vicious in the battle that the Romans gave informed gaining control their territory and designed a wall to do to contain them. …

This BMW R45 Cafe racer is the work of a Scottish custom motorbike garage JM CUSTOMS, primarily based in Perth, on the side of the country illustrious for whiskey, haggis, and being therefore vicious in the battle that the Romans gave informed gaining control their territory and designed a wall to do to contain them.

THE TEAM AT JM CUSTOMS

JM Customs was originally founded by James Moir, an owner and lead designer who’s always had a deep love for motorcycles, design, and fabrication. James works alongside Chris Burnett (lead mechanic) to create these beautiful machines. Chris Burnett a man with years of earned experience as a specialist motorcycle mechanic.

The BMW R45 was launched in the late 1970s as a mid-weight model. Thanks to its Four-stroke two cylinder horizontally opposed “Boxer” engine, its solid frame, low center of gravity, and excellent fuel economy.

Bike magazine tested this Beemer in 1979, the R45 recorded a top speed of 95 mph (154 km/h) while returning an overall fuel consumption of 56.2mpg (5.0litres/100 km)

The R45 was primarily targeted at learner drivers and some 28,000 of these were produced many of them are still on the road today thanks to their toughness and cult classic status. Today the R45 is popular with custom bike builders and are being converted into Café Racer or Street scramblersbecause of their compact dimensions, its tune-ability, and rugged build quality.

THE JM CUSTOMS BMW R45 CAFE RACER

The beautiful BMW R45 you see here is of Steve and is that the work of JM Customs based in Perth, Scotland. Steve who came across JM Customs on social media and they were building the bikes. Steve loved the design of the bikes they were building. as it happens, Steve had an old BMW R45 that had been sitting in his garage for nearly decades. He contacted JM Customs, and James Moir and Chris Burnett the 2 men came to Steve’s agreement to get the old BMW back on the road.

The R45 project began with a full teardown and examination. surprisingly the bike was in solid form despite its age.

They decided that a John Player combination (Formula 1 1972 John Player Special: Lotus’s famous black and gold livery) would be used – black and gold hues. the first BMW wheels where powder coated gold, with the frame, engine, lower fork legs, and swing arm all painted or powder coated black.

The fuel tank was painted by painter Ross Sinclair to be colored black, with gold pinstriping around the edge.

The goal was to make a solid mid-weight cafe racer, that the frame was de-tabbed and every non-essential component was removed. The original battery kit was removed and a brand new box was fabricated in-house, then fitted with a light-weight lithium-ion unit.

A set of clip-on handlebars were fitted up front together with new levers, heated grips (important in Scotland), modern switchgear, and a brand new minimalist speedometer. The front fender was chopped down. Just below the fender, the original brake rotors were swapped out for newer replacements paired with new pads.

The original seat was replaced with a brand new unit designed in-house because it was way too bulky. Replaced with a new seat pan, custom cut foam, and fabric done by local shop creative Upholstery.

The all-new custom BMW R45 bike is a masterclass in minimalist moderncafe racers. this might be a wonderful example of a proper Scottish custom motorbike.

Follow the Builder

]]>https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/10/the-jm-customs-bmw-r45-cafe-racer-the-smokey-dogs/feed/0THE BMW R NINE T SCRAMBLER. HONEST. UNTAMED. AIR COOLED. | THE SMOKEY DOGShttps://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/09/the-bmw-r-nine-t-scrambler-honest-untamed-air-cooled-the-smokey-dogs/
https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/09/the-bmw-r-nine-t-scrambler-honest-untamed-air-cooled-the-smokey-dogs/#respondFri, 28 Sep 2018 13:36:00 +0000https://www.thesmokeydogs.com/2018/09/the-bmw-r-nine-t-scrambler-honest-untamed-air-cooled-the-smokey-dogs/For me, the R nine T scrambler is a very pure motorcycle. It just offers you what you need for riding. It’s a very distinct spirit the freedom and every meter the bike empowers you to do your own thing. To me, our new R9T scrambler is fascinating new but also the well-established concept. It’s …

For me, the R nine Tscrambler is a very pure motorcycle. It just offers you what you need for riding. It’s a very distinct spirit the freedom and every meter the bike empowers you to do your own thing. To me, our new R9T scrambler is fascinating new but also the well-established concept. It’s a bike the rider can express his personality it’s tough, it’s rough, it’s for customers was to rebel at heart.

Detail-wise BMW focused on high material quality. The difference to what the BMW R9T is a much more rugged and offloaded feeling. The 90’s scrambler features are a 19-inch front wheel it has a slightly raised chassis exhaust system is raised – we have a new instrument dial, we have a telescopic front fork with four Gators also mounted then we have cast wheels a one-piece seat for two persons which is scrambler typical a little higher than in the roadster so you sit in a more upright position this also helps a little for taller riders.

This is our generation of the last air-cooled boxer. Easy to ride easy to handle you enjoy riding, you forget about the rest of the day, you cruise around the city, you can take shortcuts if you want to write the next country road if you like take maybe a gravel road so that’s the all-around bike for me yet for the rubble at heart in yourself.

Customizing is part of a lifestyle to impress your own personality in the bike you ride. Therefore, BMW offers a bunch of possibilities to individualize your bike second instrument I, for example, BMW offer side plates spoke wheels instead of the car speeds are, typical knobby tires and then BMW have accessories like the single seater. You are able to dismount the frame for the pillion rider.

I am really happy that this bike is something which is so pure and so simple that you can take anything away from it anymore. It’s pure riding you’re riding you.